Published 5:32 pm, Friday, August 15, 2014

STAMFORD -- When Robby Jones wasn't striking out batters or retiring the side in order, he was hitting doubles and triples in the gap for the Greenwich Warriors during their game against the Stamford Thunder Thursday night in the Sharkey Laureno Memorial Baseball Tournament.

Yes, Jones did it all for the Warriors and it was a big reason why they ended their stay in the Sharkey Laureno Tournament in style.

Jones registered six strikeouts in four hitless innings and went 2 for 3 with an RBI triple to help power Greenwich to a 4-1 victory over Stamford in the final game of the tournament for both 15-and-under teams.

With the win, the Warriors finished 2-1 in the 15-and-under Silver Division. They just missed advancing to Saturday's playoff portion of the tournament, since they lost to the Bronx Bombers, who also posted a record of 2-1 in the Silver Division. Jones, Daniel Pastore and Ryan Searles combined to limit Stamford to just two hits.

A rising New Canaan High School sophomore, Jones walked two batters in the first inning, but retired the side in order with two strikeouts in the second, struck out two batters in the third and worked a 1-2-3 fourth inning.

"I was just trying to establish my fastball and our catcher Kevin (Woodring) worked with me on that," Jones said. "My cutter helped out with a lot of strikeouts. I didn't try to throw my hardest. I just tried to throw nice and easy and throw strikes."

It certainly didn't appear that Jones wasn't throwing his hardest, as his fastball was tough for the Thunder hitters to catch up to.

"He threw really well," Warriors coach Tom Dunnam said of Jones. "Once he zoned in he was pretty tough out there. We actually took him out with no hits allowed because the idea was to bring in three or four guys."

Stamford also received an impressive performance on the mound. Don Depina yielded only two runs the first six innings, before the Thunder scored twice in the top of the seventh inning.

"Donny pitched a great game," Stamford coach Butch LaMotta said. "This was the first time he pitched since June 28 and I promised him I'd give him a start and he went out there and did a very good job. Overall, I'm happy with our performance tonight."

Greenwich took a 1-0 first-inning lead, courtesy of savvy base-running. Leadoff hitter Ryan Searles doubled and stole third. Jones, who batted in the No. 3 spot, walked with one out. Searles and Jones then executed a double steal, with Searles scoring, giving the Warriors a 1-0 lead. After Jones doubled to left center field, Woodring grounded a double down the left field line, putting Greenwich ahead, 2-0, in the top of the third inning.

Depina started the fifth inning for Stamford with a double off right-hander Pastore, then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Third baseman Sam Berkun drove in the Thunder's lone run with a groundout, cutting Greenwich's lead to 2-1. After Pastore worked the fifth inning, Searles, a left-hander, pitched a scoreless sixth and seventh with a pair of strikeouts for the Warriors.

"They had two lefties who were pretty dominant," LaMotta said. "We were shorthanded, but the kids we had picked us up."

It was a good old fashioned pitcher's dual until the Warriors plated two runs in the top of the seventh inning. An RBI single by outfielder Andrew D'Autilio and a run-scoring triple by Jones gave Greenwich a 4-1 advantage.

"Our team had a really good year," Dunnam said. "We won two tournaments, we were the finalist in another and we went down to Myrtle Beach and went 4-3 at the Triple Crown Baseball Championships and went 4-3 against some great teams."

"We have a lot to be proud of," Jones added. "All summer, we received a great team effort."